People have asked me why weíre not more emotional,Ē Matheny said in his office after Sundayís game. ďThey say that we look subdued, always intense. That our actions are methodical, robotic at times. Thatís what got us here. This isnít the time to change it.Ē

Itís hard to argue with the managerís assessment. The Cardinals finished with 97 victories, most by a Cards team since 2005, and tied with Boston for No. 1 in the majors this year.

Their 54-27 showing at Busch Stadium matches the 1985 team for the best single-season home winning percentage (.667) by the Cardinals since 1944.

A postseason theme has emerged, and it echoes the mantra that surfaced before the start of 2013: remember the fall of 2012. Remember falling to San Francisco in the NLCS.

The Cardinalsí veterans still havenít forgotten. They still arenít over it. Itís why Matheny resists GM John Mozeliakís urgings to smile and put on a happier face.

Here's the most impressive aspect of the Cardinals' division championship: they prevailed over two other outstanding teams, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.

The 97-win Cardinals were better this year (regular season) than they were in 2011, when they won 90 games, and 2012, when they won 88.
Here are a few numbers that help put the Cardinals' Central title and No. 1 NL seed in perspective:

* Since MLB switched to a three-division format in each league in 1994, this was only the sixth time that a division had three 90-plus win teams. St. Louis won 97, Pittsburgh 94, and Cincinnati 90.
* Since the format change, this was only the second time that an NL division had three 90-win teams. In 2002 the NL West had Arizona (98 wins), San Francisco (95) and Los Angeles (92).
* The 2013 Cardinals faced more esteemed and difficult competition at the top of the division than any of the division-winning teams managed by Tony La Russa.

The Pirates were hardly pushovers; the Cardinals had to work like mad and kick in with a strong finish to put the division away, and didn't clinch until Game No. 160.

The Cardinals went 9-10 against Pittsburgh this season and were 11-8 vs. Cincinnati.

The Cardinals won only three of 10 games at PNC Park in Pittsburgh and split the 10 games at Cincinnati. The Cardinals were 6-3 against both teams at Busch Stadium.

The Cardinals (1st), Pirates (3rd) and Reds (5th) ranked among the top five in wins in the NL. The three teams were among the top 11 in wins in MLB. All three teams finished in the top five in the majors for best overall ERA, and each were in the top five MLB for best starting-pitching ERA.

The original purpose to this piece was to point out that the Cardinals managed to finish with the league's best record while competing in a division that had three 90-win teams for only the second time in the last 19 years of National League baseball.

While I like Jay as a player, he's a guy we should be looking to upgrade. I know the trade ended up winning us a WS, but it would be nice to have Rasmus in CF, especially the way he's been hitting th eball of late.

**** Rasmus. He strikes out in 1/3 of his PA. Guys like that just get skull****ed in the PS.

Jay put up a 3.7 WAR last year, which is pretty goddamned amazing all things considered.

Jay's BABIP is down 75 points from last year. He's striking out more, but taking the same number of walks.

He's also not running at all, perhaps due to his position in the order, although I have my doubts.

Jay's actually been our worst everyday player according to advanced metrics this year. Worse than replacement level.

Jay has always been a solid starter, but not much more. It's too bad Oscar isn't a touch more fleet of foot, otherwise we'd have his replacement right now. As is, we just have to suffer through it, because I'll be goddamned if we trade any pitching for CF help, especially with the paper thin nature of the rotation at this point.

They should have Yadi take his suspension tomorrow, use the extra roster spot to call up an extra bullpen arm while also sending Marte down and bringing up Siegrist.

__________________
9/3/2016:

Quote:

Originally Posted by petegz28

ball on the 7 and you can't even get 3.....yeah MU still has no QB and no line

It's nice to see the Reds and the Pirates playing real teams at the same time. Seems like they've either been playing the Cubs or the Marlins all year long.

I'm not sure who that second baseman is they have - but dude is butter, defensively.

__________________On 9/8/2017 at 8:44 AM, dawkins4prez said:

Yeah I'm not buying any momentum explanations. This is the unfazable Patriots, they are immune to that BS. When the Pats lose, like last night, it's because somebody physically smacked their technician OL in the mouth. Pats Defensive front 7 got thrown around as well, the Kony Ealy debacle looms big right now. Chiefs took this game over at the LOS, plain and simple, they beat them bloody.

**** Rasmus. He strikes out in 1/3 of his PA. Guys like that just get skull****ed in the PS.

Jay put up a 3.7 WAR last year, which is pretty goddamned amazing all things considered.

Jay's BABIP is down 75 points from last year. He's striking out more, but taking the same number of walks.

He's also not running at all, perhaps due to his position in the order, although I have my doubts.

Jay's actually been our worst everyday player according to advanced metrics this year. Worse than replacement level.

Jay has always been a solid starter, but not much more. It's too bad Oscar isn't a touch more fleet of foot, otherwise we'd have his replacement right now. As is, we just have to suffer through it, because I'll be goddamned if we trade any pitching for CF help, especially with the paper thin nature of the rotation at this point.

They should have Yadi take his suspension tomorrow, use the extra roster spot to call up an extra bullpen arm while also sending Marte down and bringing up Siegrist.

I didn't realize how bad Jay had been til I looked at some stuff, he's been a damn crater at the plate in the lineup.

I would rather not give up any as for a cf, unless it was something stupid like a Matt kemp, which wouldn't happen.

I wish Tavares could just play center or Beltran could play cf, either way problem solved